Upper Milford supervisors last week received results of a traffic study conducted by Planning Coordinator Brian Miller at the Dillingersville Road railroad crossing.

Miller said the study was done between July 11 and 14 about 400 feet from the track. The study indicated an average of 1,407 vehicles daily on the weekdays, with an average speed of 35 miles per hour, which is the speed limit.

However, a top speed of 76 mph was recorded on the westbound side and of 58 mph on the eastbound side. There were also 98 vehicles more than 40 feet long.

Given that information, Upper Milford Township Manager Daniel DeLong, who had initially proposed regrading the crossing to improve it, said the township should "let it be," because improving the crossing would only lead to more speeding.

Chairman George DeVault asked if a stop sign at the crossing would help and DeLong said that would only be a last resort. DeLong said there are other warning signs in advance of the crossing.

In other business at the July 16 meeting, supervisors asked DeLong to look into a winter maintenance contract proposed by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in which the township would take care of snow removal and other winter maintenance on certain PennDOT roads within the township.

PennDOT has suggested the township take over maintenance of some 38 miles of state owned roads, but DeLong is recommending the township only maintain about 10 miles, including Vera Cruz Road North and South, Main Road East and West, Brunner Road and St. Peter's Road.

Supervisors said the $16,000 PennDOT is proposing to pay for the township's work is low, but agreed it is worth pursuing. DeLong noted the proposed contract includes a clause that would pay the township more in winters with excessive snow, like last winter.

Supervisor Robert Sentner wondered if PennDOT would do a better job clearing Routes 29 and 100 if the township took over some of the other state roads.

In a related discussion, Sentner suggested a new committee should be created to deal with traffic issues in the Lehigh Valley. He did not specify whether such a committee should be regional or just in the township, but said traffic is becoming more and more of a problem and he's not happy with the speed with which it is being addressed by agencies such as the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.

DeLong cautioned all road projects are being developed according to plans, whether state, federal or local, which are already being reviewed by other committees. He suggested rather than creating a new committee, when it is already hard to get people to serve on committees, more citizens and officials should attend existing meetings.

He said both a grassroots movement, which Sentner is promoting, and working within the system are needed to address some of the problems.

Sentner said there's something wrong when new projects are being proposed and "Upper Milford can't get a left-turn lane or can't get a pothole fixed.

"I'm going to keep screaming," Sentner said.

DeLong said it's "quite evident there's not enough money" and no regulations that would require developers to pay for the increased infrastructure needs their projects create.

"We should have built the infrastructure before they built the warehouses," Sentner said, referring to the many warehouses in the Lehigh Valley which contribute to much of the increased truck traffic.

In other business, Sentner said he would like to quash rumors the recently created fire company steering company is planning to combine the two township fire departments.

"That's absolutely not the intention of the committee," he said.

The ad hoc committee, which will meet Aug. 10, was created to look at ways to increase cooperation between the two companies, as well as address the problem of recruiting volunteers. One of the things the committee has decided to do, Assistant Township Manager Tim Haas said, is to publicize the companies' monthly reports at supervisors' meetings.

In June, he reported, Western District Fire Company had seven calls and Citizens Fire Company had 16.

Supervisor Daniel Mohr reminded everyone of the Vera Cruz Homecoming scheduled Aug. 16, rain or shine, but gloomily predicted it will probably rain, as it often has in recent years.